10.  The applicant was born in 1978 and lives in Dällikon (Canton of Zürich). By his own account, he is a lorry driver.
11.  On 14 March 1997 a military doctor declared him unfit for military service as he was suffering from type 1 diabetes (diabetes mellitus).
12.  On 22 February 1999 the applicant was also exempted from the civil protection service.
13.  On 8 September 2000 that exemption was lifted and in October that year the applicant was assigned to the Dübendorf Civil Protection Reserve in the Canton of Zürich. According to the Government, it is unclear from the file whether the applicant was given any tasks to carry out in a civil protection capacity. The applicant alleges that he volunteered on several occasions, but because of staff cutbacks in the Canton of Zürich he was never called to do any civil protection duty.
14.  On 9 August 2001 the Zürich cantonal authorities responsible for the military-service exemption tax sent him an order to pay the tax for 2000, in the amount of 716 Swiss francs (CHF) (approximately 477 euros (EUR)), based on his taxable income that year (CHF 35,800 – approximately EUR 23,866).
15.  In a letter of 11 September 2001, the applicant challenged the tax demand, considering that he was being discriminated against. He pointed out that he had always stated his readiness to do military service.
16.  On 20 September 2001 the federal tax authorities informed the applicant that all Swiss men who did not suffer from a “major” disability were required to pay a tax in order to be exempted from military service. They explained that a disability was considered “major” if the degree of physical or mental disability was at least 40%. They considered that further examinations were needed in order to determine whether the applicant’s disability met that requirement.
17.  When he examined the applicant on 14 May 2002, a doctor from the Zürich University Hospital found that in most cases the type of diabetes the applicant suffered from did not make people unfit for work.
18.  In another expert medical examination on 5 May 2003, a military doctor found the applicant’s physical disability to be less than 40%.
19.  By a decision of 15 July 2003, the Zürich cantonal authorities responsible for the military-service exemption tax decided, based on the findings of the medical examination and the expert examination of 14 May 2002, that the applicant did not qualify for exemption from the tax as his degree of invalidity was less than 40%. The applicant challenged that decision and the authorities confirmed it on 5 August 2003.
20.  The Federal Tax Appeals Board for the Canton of Zürich upheld that decision on 7 November 2003. It considered that in adopting the criteria set out in section 4(1)(a) of the Federal Military-Service Exemption Tax Act of 12 June 1959 (see “Relevant domestic law and practice”, paragraph 30 below) Parliament’s intention had not been to generally exempt all people with disabilities from the obligation to pay the tax in question. In the applicant’s case the medical examination of 14 May 2002 had shown that his disability was not a major one and that his condition was highly unlikely to be an obstacle in his future career. Thanks to medical progress, patients with the applicant’s type of diabetes could live quite normal lives these days and practise almost any line of work. That being so, the people concerned were not considered to have disabilities for the purposes of section 4(1)(a) of the Federal Military-Service Exemption Tax Act. The Board further found that the applicant had failed to demonstrate that his condition, and in particular the need to administer himself four insulin injections a day, prevented him from working. Lastly, the Board did not consider that the distinction between major disabilities and other types of disability amounted, as the applicant alleged, to discrimination.
21.  On 19 December 2003 the applicant filed an administrative complaint with the Federal Court. He claimed, in particular, that he was a victim of discriminatory treatment in so far as, on the one hand, he had been required to pay the exemption tax and, on the other, he had not been allowed to do his military service even though he had always stated his readiness to do it.
22.  On 5 February 2004, when invited by the Federal Court to submit observations on the admissibility and merits of the complaint, the federal tax authorities recommended its rejection.
23.  In a judgment of 9 March 2004, the Federal Court rejected the complaint. Based on the findings of the expert examination of 14 May 2002, it held that the applicant did not have a major physical or mental disability within the meaning of section 4(1)(a) of the Federal Military-Service Exemption Tax Act. Accordingly, he did not qualify for exemption from the tax. The Federal Court also pointed out that although the medical examination showed that the type of diabetes the applicant had was unlikely to prevent him from holding a normal job, the particular constraints of military service nevertheless obliged the authorities to declare him unfit.
24.  The Federal Court explained that the aim of the law was to provide a system of compensation between those citizens who did their military service and those who were exempted from it for whatever reason. The tax in issue was meant to replace the effort and inconvenience of military service. As to the complaint of discrimination, the court explained that it was for reasons of equality that the law did not provide for a blanket exemption for all people with disabilities.
25.  The Federal Court considered that the cantonal authorities had merely correctly applied the law and that it was not the court’s role to change the law.
26.  It also held that the fact that the applicant had always declared his willingness to do military service and felt fit to do it as a professional driver did not make any difference, as the law provided for no alternative for someone in his situation but to pay the exemption tax.